‘I Still Believe’ is a unique album… Fitting into the category of what most would describe as ‘Contemporary Gospel’ it was refreshing to hear (from start to finish) the uniqueness and the freshness of the songs, arrangements and fusions of musical styles.
Stand out tracks:
‘Magnify Him’ is the album opener and it shows a sign of intent and sets the tone for what to expect for the rest of the album… Vibrant, exuberant praise and worship with soul and finesse with strong vocal arrangements and harmonies and the ‘4 to the floor’ groove it’s sure to get you participating and singling along or at least dancing and praising along.
‘Great Is The Lord’ is a classic sounding song and features a 6/8 time signature (which in our opinion there is always space for on a contemporary Gospel album) which straight-away adds a swing and unifies everything that’s going on because of its marching beat characteristics. The melodies sung and the chord progressions in this song are beautiful and yet dynamic and have caused us to keep replaying it.
‘Enter In’ is a simple song that encourages worship and focuses on God and the desire to be close to Him.
‘Almighty God’ is definitely a song for the musicians… With a strong introduction and a solid groove driven by deep, gritty guitars perfectly reflecting that God is an ‘Almighty God’ and takes on a warfare characteristic reminding us that we can take back from the devil all that he has stolen from us.
‘Keeper Of His Word’ takes it all the way down and really allows the simplicity of the musical arrangement to provide an emotive and free flowing and peaceful sound really allowing the message of this song (sung with, passion, confidence and conviction) to hit home.
‘Awesome God/He Reigns’ is an awesome cover of the classic song and we must say this is one of our favourite versions… From the grooving guitar line through-out to the key changes, breakdowns and overall energy of this song this is the perfect way to end a great album.
‘I Still Believe’ is an album that could easily go by unheard of or looked on as yet ‘another Gospel CD’ but that would be a shame… It’s an album full of uplifting, worshipful and impacting songs that are all strengthened by the quality of the musical arrangements, strong, dynamic vocals and the originality of the project on a whole.
Guest vocalists on the album are Jonathan Dunn, Adrian ‘Agee’ Smith, Gail Nevels (of the Nevels sisters), Margaret Rainey and Joyce Hines-Jones.
One of the greatest things about this album (this is totally personal) is that it captured the sound of ‘Mount Calvary’ (Darren Thomas’ home church) a sound that heavily influenced us growing up while the late, great Bishop Norman L. Wagner (R.I.P) was Pastor. We were exposed to that ministry mainly through CD’s and VHS but the ministry impacted us as if we were in the room and ‘I Still Believe’ has continued in that same trend.
4/5
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